Gnocchi made with dried mash! Served with tomato sauce 15p a serving

I have a very long list of recipes to try, price and post and one of those recipes was gnocchi. Miss South over on northsouthfood.com posted a recipe for just that, but using instant mashed potato. I was very surprised by that to say the least, I associate dried mash with horrible school mash, dry, gluey and nasty tasting. But Miss South is an expert when it comes to spuds, so I resolved to give it a go. Eventually found a 49p packet, and tried it. And what can I say, they were light and delicious, everything you could ask of a gnocchi. So here they are, in the recipe list, and with many thanks to Miss South for discovering them.
I would even give the mash a go just as it is in a pinch
Makes 2 servings

Using 50g of dried potato, make it up according to the instructions
For the pkt I bought, that would be half a sachet, 49p/200g pk, 12p
90g plain flour, 45p/1.5kg, 3p

For the tomato sauce
Half a tin of tomatoes, 16p
Small onion, optional
salt and pepper

Start with the tomato sauce by frying the onion until transparent in a little oil in a saucepan, if using. If not, just put the tomatoes in the pan, season with half a tsp of salt and a good grinding of pepper and simmer for 10 minutes or so. If you like a smooth sauce, give them a whizz, otherwise, leave them as they are. Add some fresh basil if you have it.

The potato packet says to use roughly half milk, but I just used water, and it was fine. If using the mash as it is, you would really need to add butter or something, but for gnocchi, water is fine.
You will need to allow the mix to cool before adding the flour. Mix it all in aiming to make a soft dough. You may need a little more.

Divide the mixture into two, and roll each half out with your hands to a long sausage about an inch thick. Now cut each sausage into 3/4 inch pieces and press the back of a fork into them to make the characteristic pattern. Place them on a baking tray lined with cling film or baking parchment, they get very sticky as they stand.

You can now leave them and cook them later, or freeze them. If you do freeze them, make sure you keep them separated until frozen or they will be one big, sticky lump.
When you are ready to cook them, bring a saucepan of water to the boil and add a little salt.
Drop half a dozen or so in the water at a time and simmer gently for a minute or two until they bob to the surface, when they will be done.

Now serve them up and top them with the tomato sauce and some more fresh basil if you have it.

We topped ours with a little fine grated cheddar and we had them with a little coleslaw. Apologies to Miss South, but I like this! I fine chopped a little white cabbage and a carrot and mixed it with a tbslp mayonnaise, 2 tblsps of yogort and some Dijon mustard.

You could have these with any sauce you like really. You could make a hot tomato sauce with chilli, or add some Indian spices, or add tomato purée to the gnocchi mix
In my copy of The Silver Spoon, the Italians Mrs Beeton, there is an entire chapter devoted to gnocchi. You can cover them with Bechamel sauce and top with Parmesan, sprinkle with Fontina cheese, add fine chopped walnuts to the mix and top with melted butter, sizzle herb leaves in the topping butter (sage or rosemary), mix fine chopped spinach into the mix and serve topped with butter and Parmesan. And these are just the Gnocchi di patate.
You could add the fine chopped herbs into the gnocchi mix itself, or anything else that you think would work well, those last little shreds of chicken from the carcass, or a tiny bit of ham. Or how about a few chopped capers on top or in them.
You could use a pumpkin or courgette instead or as well as potato
You could even make a sweet version by serving them topped with a cheapy lemon curd sauce, or a red jam one, or how about a chocolate version made by mixing some cocoa into the mix and serving with cheapy chocolate grated over.

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8 Comments

What a great idea! I’ve been thinking of trying it for awhile but been waiting til i had leftover spuds and I never do. Tesco do value instant mash 120g for 20p so i will def be giving this a go 🙂

Lesley
on October 6, 2013 at 7:26 pm

Even cheaper then 🙂 they tasted lovely

Emma
on June 24, 2014 at 9:59 pm

Oooh thank you. We all love gnocchi but I refuse to pay extortionate amounts for the claggy supermarket stuff and our friend’s Italian mother insisted that her recipe is much to complicated for me (I’m known for burning EVERYTHING) but you make this sound simple enough even for me.

I wish I had had access to your recipes a few years back when DH and I were surviving on boiled rice. We’re no-where near as skint now but money is still very tight so your recipes should prove a God-send.

Bless you for taking the time and trouble to share them.

Lesley
on June 24, 2014 at 10:05 pm

Why thank you. Probably best not to mention to your Italian friend that they are made with dried mash, she might collapse in shock :0

It’s about time I put a few more ideas out there. I’ve just been chatting away for a while.

I wish I had had access to something like this when I was completely skint too. It would have made a lot of difference

Susan
on February 4, 2015 at 8:08 pm

Lesley what a godsend you are. I am now on week 3 and have been following your recipes to the T. Many things you say can be frozen as this recipe but can they be cooked from frozen too ?

Lesley
on February 4, 2015 at 8:56 pm

As gnocchi cook in such a short time, I think I would be reluctant to cook them from frozen, the flour in the middle of each gnocchi may not be cooked through if it starts off frozen.
They need to be frozen in a single layer, so they should be separate when taken out of the freezer. Which hopefully means they will defrost in a few minutes.
I’m delighted you are following the plans, I do enjoy making them, but the whole point is to try and help in saving money

Jenny Read
on February 27, 2015 at 8:58 am

This recipe was delicious! I’m following your meal plans throughout Lent and am currently following Meal Plan 3. The recipes you have come up with are amazing, thank you! x

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